Penny’s Puppy Party!

My baby is THREE! I can’t believe it. I love this girl to the moon and couldn’t wait to throw her a birthday party, but before I even had a chance to ask her what kind of theme she wanted, she somehow dreamt up and asked for a puppy party. She has this little stuffed dog that was a part of a cheap Christmas present years ago, and for a while now it has been her sidekick (that, and her blankie), so she has a special place in her heart for dogs, even though we don’t have a real one of our own.

I, on the other hand, was not crazy about the theme choice at first (how does one decorate with dogs?!) but… she will soon grow up, and basically… how could I say no?!

The decor was random but fun. I made a few banners to hang, thanks to a friend who loaned me her dog cut-outs, and another friend who loaned me her cricut machine. I hand drew and cut out the dog ears for the headbands, and made the little table signs in photoshop. The dog house was Penny’s favorite part – I bought this and built it inside out (way easy!). We blew up a bunch of balloons for the floor, since playing with balloons is one of Penny’s favorite pastimes – what toddler doesn’t love sitting in a sea of balloons and throwing them in the air?! We invited family and a few of her adorable toddler friends. We painted a pup face on each of them, played obedience school in the backyard (sit, roll over, play dead, shake hands, play fetch — with a Twizzler “chew stick” as their reward), ate puppy chow (muddy buddies) out of a bowl, hit a dog bone pinata, and each little one got to “adopt a puppy” to take home, with their own collar and take-home “doggy bag.” For lunch we had a “hot dog bar” with grilled beef franks and all the extras, plus “puppy punch” (pink lemonade) to drink, and “pup cakes” for dessert – and it was all super delicious. The party was adorably fun and the pictures say it all! I will list sources at the bottom.

Penny was so polite and said thank you to all of her friends for coming and waved to them as they left — it was the cutest thing. I feel SO incredibly blessed to be her mama. Here’s a few bonus pictures we took the day before her party – on her actual birthday. Check out how she holds up “3” fingers, it’s my favorite. Time is a thief, you guys… why do babies grow up so fast?